FRIDAY 24 OCTOBER

ABC NewsMentally Unstable Soldiers Redeployed to IraqStretched Thin, Army Puts Some Vulnerable Soldiers Back on the FrontlinesBy BOB WOODRUFF, JAMES HILL and JAIME HENNESSEY

Army Specialist Michael DeVlieger, who wasredeployed to Iraq, with his wife, Christine. More than 600,000Americans have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Courtesy Michael DeVlieger )

Oct. 23, 2008—

Two weeks before his second deployment to Iraq last September, Army Specialist Michael DeVlieger broke down.

"At first, I thought it was something that everybody experienced," DeVlieger told ABC's Bob Woodruff, "and just through time and perseverance I guess it would pass." It didn't pass.

After an 11-day hospitalization, DeVlieger was given a diagnosis of major depressive disorder, three psychiatric prescriptions -- and deployment orders.

"Eighteen hours after he got out of the hospital, he deployed to Iraq," DeVlieger's wife, Christine DeVlieger, recalled. He left for Iraq despite Pentagon policy requiring that service members establish three months of "stability without significant symptoms" before deploying.

"I was a ticking time bomb," Michael DeVlieger said.

Watch "World News" Tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET for the full report

Citing privacy, officials at DeVlieger's base in Fort Campbell, Ky., declined to comment except to say there was a combat stress unit assigned to DeVlieger's base in Iraq.

'Stretched Too Thin'

More than 600,000 Americans have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Psychological trauma is cumulative," explained Dr. Paul Ragan, a former Navy psychiatrist who is an associate professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University. More deployments can mean more mental stress, and for some, more mental illnesses, he said.

Army surveys show that for those soldiers deployed once, the rate of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder is 12 percent. For those deployed three or more times, the rate is 27 percent.

"People who have psychiatric symptoms, actively symptomatic with PTSD or depression, are being sent back to the very situation that caused their PTSD and depression," Ragan said.

The Army's chief psychiatrist, Dr. Elspeth Ritchie, agrees with the Rand Corp.'s estimate that 300,000 service members have demonstrated post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Some are returning to the battlefront, although the Army is not keeping track of how many.

"I certainly would not want to lump all soldiers who have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and say they are impaired and not able to do their job," Ritchie told Woodruff. "I think that would be very stigmatizing."

Many soldiers, as Ritchie points out, receive treatment and cope successfully with PTSD or depression.

"We have a number of reasons for sending the soldiers back to war -- we have a mission, clearly," Ritchie said.

The mission asks a lot of a few. Less than 1 percent of the population serves, and serves again.

"We know the Army is stretched too thin. We know how busy we are. We know we need more forces," Ritchie said.

While Ritchie said she was unfamiliar with the details of DeVlieger's case, she added that if it were true, it "clearly violates our policy." Ritchie said the Army works hard to screen veterans, but there will always be some missed cases.

Medicated Soldiers

The military is increasingly medicating its warriors, and in some cases, returning them to the fight.

Ritchie defended the concept. "You have to remember, PTSD is a treatable disorder, and you can have symptoms and still do your job quite well."

Twelve percent of soldiers in Iraq and 17 percent of those in Afghanistan reported taking antidepressants, anxiety medications or sleep medications in the Army's most recent mental health survey.

The use of psychiatric drugs on the battlefield has not been scientifically studied, and some say the practice carries risks.

"The black box on the label talks about side effects like suicide, poor judgment," retired Army psychologist Bart Billings warned. "It's really not a good idea to put people in a battle situation where the side effects of the medications they're taking could be suicide -- when they're carrying weapons."

As a psychiatrist in Kuwait during the first Gulf War, Ragan saw a vastly different military opinion of psychiatric medications. "Clearly, in 1990, if someone was on antidepressant medication, we sent them back to the United States."

The Army has 200 mental health professionals in Iraq to treat soldiers and monitor medications. This number has remained constant since the start of the war, even as the number of troops has increased.

'It Still Sticks With Me'

Former Marine Cpl. Michael Cataldi, an Iraq war veteran, remembers the dark days that followed his first deployment.

"I was taking anti-psychotics, narcotics for pain and drinking at least 30 beers a night," he said.

He came home to Camp Pendleton, Calif., haunted by the horrors of war, including a helicopter crash that killed 30 fellow Marines.

"I saw a Marine Corps sergeant who had the majority of the top of his head missing, and he had the look of a scream on his face," Cataldi recounted. "And that stuck with me, and it still sticks with me."

Cataldi said he went to see a military psychiatrist who brushed aside his concerns. "I tell them, `I'm having nightmares. I feel like I'm having out-of-body experiences. I feel like I'm watching myself in a movie. I'm losing memory, coordination.' This whole time he said, `You're not feeling that way.' Exact words: `No, you're not.'"

Cataldi was prescribed several psychiatric medications and deployed to Iraq for a second tour of duty.

When asked for comment, Marine public affairs officer Cpt. Carl Redding told ABC News that Cataldi's records were "private and not releasable." Redding continued, "Marines with a psychiatric disorder in remission or those whose residual symptoms do not impair their duties may be considered for deployment."

Cataldi's wife, Monica Cataldi, believes the decision was wrong. "In my opinion, anybody who has to be on medication just to function, just to do their job, shouldn't go to Iraq."

A month into his second tour in Iraq, Cataldi said he ran out of his psychiatric medication.

"I went cold turkey on a narcotic in a combat zone," Cataldi said. "I woke up lying in the dirt in the middle of the night. I don't remember how I got there, with my rifle buried next to me."

"I wasn't mentally safe. I was a liability. I could have got someone hurt," Cataldi said.

Last fall, Sgt. Chad Barrett stood before an Army medical evaluation board in Fort Carson, Colo., and asked to return to Iraq, even though his medical record included a PTSD diagnosis, a suicide attempt and a commander's recommendation that he be "removed from the United States Army and receive the treatment he needs."

On Christmas Day last year, the Army sent Barrett to Iraq for the third time. He never came home.

"This was a slow, progressive mental illness that never would have come about had he not been deployed repeatedly in a short period of time, had he gotten the care that he needed, had he gotten the best that the Army had to offer," said Chad's widow, Shelby Barrett.

A month into his third tour, 35-year-old Chad Barrett committed suicide in his barracks. He overdosed on the medications the Army had prescribed to help him cope.

Officials at Fort Carson, citing privacy, said they could not comment on Barrett's death.

"In a body bag is not how I wanted my husband back," said Shelby Barrett.

Half of Suicides Followed Treatment

The most recent Army Suicide Event Report showed suicides climbed to the highest number on record last year. Half of those who committed suicide had visited a medical program or clinic within 30 days of death and twenty-seven percent had a history of psychiatric medication.

ABC News looked into a dozen suicides that followed multiple deployments and had showed clear signs of mental distress.

In February 2007, Army Sgt. Brian Rand took his life in the park in Clarksville, Tenn., where he had been married a year before.

"He shot himself in the head," Rand's widow, Dena Rand, told Woodruff. "It was like a nightmare."

Dena Rand has paperwork showing that her husband sought mental health care and was referred to the mental health department during his second tour in Iraq. But nothing ever came of it.

"He knew he needed help, and he tried and he wasn't very successful," Rand said.

In a physical exam for discharge from the military, a psychiatrist wrote that Brian Rand was "mentally unsound."

"Someone got that report showing that my husband was mentally unsound. Someone should have notified his chain of command, or at least myself," said Rand. "I want to know who dropped the ball."

Londoners were left baffled today when a strange pink light appeared over the capital. Thealien-like cloud glowed brightly over the streets of Mayfair in theearly morning. It hovered over buildings before breaking up and slowlydisappearing. But after dismissing theories of UFOs andatmospheric phenomenons, the Met Office said the blob was likely to benothing more than the lights of the city reflected in a cloud. Aspokesman said: "If you have very high cloud, as we did last night, youtend to get odd splodges of low cloud that will ref lect the pink orsometimes orangey-pink lights of the city from all angles and stand outfrom the darkness of the sky. "It can be truly spectacular to witness."

Ahmed Maher is using Facebook to try to topple the government of Egypt. Photo: Joerg Klaus

July 23, 2008. Under the scorching sun on a beachin Alexandria, Egypt, a few dozen political activists snap digitalpictures and chatter nervously. Many of them wear matchingwhiteT-shirts emblazoned with the image of a fist raised in solidarity andthe words "April 6 Youth" splashed across the back. A few of them getto work constructing a giant kite out of bamboo poles and a sheet ofplastic painted to look like the Egyptian flag. Most are in theirtwenties, some younger; one teenage girl wears a teddy bear backpack.

Before the group can get the kite aloft, and well before they have achance to distribute their pro-democracy leaflets, state securityagents swarm across the sand. The cops shout threats to break up whatis, by Western standards, a tiny demonstration.

The activists disperse from the beach, feeling hot and frustrated;they didn't even get a chance to fly their kite. Joining up with otherfriends, they walk together toward the neighborhood of Loran, singingpatriotic songs.

Then, as they turn down another street, a group of security agentsjump out of nowhere. It's a coordinated assault that explodes into afrenzy of punches and shoves. There are screams and grunts as about adozen kids fall or are knocked to the ground. The other 30 or soscatter, sprinting for blocks in all directions before slowing enoughto send each other hurried text messages: Where are you? What happened?

Those who didn't get away are hustled into a van and two cars. The security men are shouting at them: "Where is Ahmed Maher?"

Three hours before the scuffle and arrests, AhmedMaher walks briskly toward a dilapidated office building onAlexandria's Abu-Qir Street. Messenger bag draped over a shoulder ofhis white short-sleeved, collared shirt, he tosses a cigarette into thestreet before climbing the marble steps.

He speaks softly to fellow activists standing outside an office doorway, but his arrival has an electrifying effect: He's here.Back in March, Maher and a friend launched a Facebook group to promotea protest planned for April 6. It became an Internet phenomenon,quickly attracting more than 70,000 members. The April 6 youth movement— amorphous, lacking a clear mission, and yet a bull's-eye to thezeitgeist — blossomed within days into something influential enough toarouse the ire of Egypt's internal security forces. Maher is part of anew generation in the Middle East that, through blogs, YouTube, Flickr,Twitter, and now Facebook, is using virtual reality to combat corruptand oppressive governments. Their nascent, tech-fired rebellion hastriggered a government backlash and captured the world's attention.

Two ceiling fans do little to relieve the stifling summer heat.Forty people are squeezed into the offices of the El-Ghad Party, one ofEgypt's more established opposition groups. Three years ago, El-Ghad'sleader, Ayman Nour, won 7 percent of the vote in the presidentialelection. Soon after, he was slapped with forgery charges that arewidely viewed as trumped up. Today, despite deteriorating health and aplea for his release from President Bush, Nour remains imprisoned.

But this afternoon, the El-Ghad office is on loan to another upstartpolitical group, the April 6 youth movement. Many of the attendees areconnecting for the first time — in the real world, that is. Most knoweach other only through Facebook, and they're finally matching namesand aliases to actual faces. Taped to the wall at the front of the roomis a yellow piece of construction paper. The makeshift sign, written inArabic lettering, reads: welcome to the first dialog meeting of the april 6 youth movement.Young women, some with head scarves and some without, sit in greenplastic chairs, while guys in their twenties stand in silence.

Outside, two uniformed cops and a plainclothes officer lean againsta shiny sedan with their arms folded, waiting. Another agent is plantedin the corner store across the street, eyes fixed on the meeting-placewindows. In Egypt today, a gathering of five people or more without apermit is illegal and can result in arrests, beatings, or both. Egypt'spresident, Hosni Mubarak,has been in power for nearly three decades and has governed underemergency rule since 1981. The regime is occasionally rebuked by the USand Europe for its abysmal human-rights record. But because Mubarak isconsidered a valuable US ally on matters concerning Israel andterrorism, Egypt receives nearly $2 billion in US aid every year,second only to Israel.

Hyperbole is the currency of presidential campaigns, but this year the nation’s future truly hangs in the balance.The United States is battered and drifting after eight years ofPresident Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor withtwo wars, a scarred global image and a government systematicallystripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether theyare fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable healthcare or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings andpensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold andpreventable.As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy.After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator BarackObama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44thpresident of the United States.•Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader andputting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He hasshown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will andthe ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential tofinding solutions to this nation’s problems.In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreatedfarther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running acampaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism.His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of arunning mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act ofopportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26years in Congress. Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain’s campaign, theurge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is agreater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America todayand at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences areprofound. Mr. McCain offers more of the Republican every-man-for-himselfideology, now lying in shards on Wall Street and in Americans’ bankaccounts. Mr. Obama has another vision of government’s role andresponsibilities. In his convention speech in Denver, Mr. Obama said, “Governmentcannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which wecannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child adecent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in newschools and new roads and new science and technology.”Since the financial crisis, he has correctly identified the abjectfailure of government regulation that has brought the markets to thebrink of collapse.

The Economy

The American financial system is the victim of decades of Republicanderegulatory and anti-tax policies. Those ideas have been proved wrongat an unfathomable price, but Mr. McCain — a self-proclaimed “footsoldier in the Reagan revolution” — is still a believer. Mr. Obama sees that far-reaching reforms will be needed to protect Americans and American business.Mr. McCain talks about reform a lot, but his vision is pinched. Hisanswer to any economic question is to eliminate pork-barrel spending —about $18 billion in a $3 trillion budget — cut taxes and wait forunfettered markets to solve the problem. Mr. Obama is clear that the nation’s tax structure must be changedto make it fairer. That means the well-off Americans who have benefiteddisproportionately from Mr. Bush’s tax cuts will have to pay some more.Working Americans, who have seen their standard of living fall andtheir children’s options narrow, will benefit. Mr. Obama wants to raisethe minimum wage and tie it to inflation, restore a climate in whichworkers are able to organize unions if they wish and expand educationalopportunities.Mr. McCain, who once opposed President Bush’s tax cuts for thewealthy as fiscally irresponsible, now wants to make them permanent.And while he talks about keeping taxes low for everyone, his proposedcuts would overwhelmingly benefit the top 1 percent of Americans whiledigging the country into a deeper fiscal hole.

cont'd next post

Last edited by spock on Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:28 pm; edited 2 times in total

spockAdmin

Posts : 323Join date : 2008-03-27

Subject: Re: FRIDAY 24 OCTOBER Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:27 pm

National Security

The American military — its people and equipment — is dangerouslyoverstretched. Mr. Bush has neglected the necessary war in Afghanistan,which now threatens to spiral into defeat. The unnecessary andstaggeringly costly war in Iraq must be ended as quickly andresponsibly as possible.While Iraq’s leaders insist on a swift drawdown of American troopsand a deadline for the end of the occupation, Mr. McCain is stilltalking about some ill-defined “victory.” As a result, he has offeredno real plan for extracting American troops and limiting any furtherdamage to Iraq and its neighbors. Mr. Obama was an early and thoughtful opponent of the war in Iraq,and he has presented a military and diplomatic plan for withdrawingAmerican forces. Mr. Obama also has correctly warned that until thePentagon starts pulling troops out of Iraq, there will not be enoughtroops to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, has only belatedly focused onAfghanistan’s dangerous unraveling and the threat that neighboringPakistan may quickly follow. Mr. Obama would have a learning curve on foreign affairs, but hehas already showed sounder judgment than his opponent on these criticalissues. His choice of Senator Joseph Biden — who has deepforeign-policy expertise — as his running mate is another sign of thatsound judgment. Mr. McCain’s long interest in foreign policy and themany dangers this country now faces make his choice of Gov. Sarah Palinof Alaska more irresponsible.Both presidential candidates talk about strengthening alliances inEurope and Asia, including NATO, and strongly support Israel. Bothcandidates talk about repairing America’s image in the world. But itseems clear to us that Mr. Obama is far more likely to do that — andnot just because the first black president would present a new Americanface to the world.Mr. Obama wants to reform the United Nations, while Mr. McCain wantsto create a new entity, the League of Democracies — a move that wouldincite even fiercer anti-American furies around the world. Unfortunately, Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, sees the world as dividedinto friends (like Georgia) and adversaries (like Russia). He proposedkicking Russia out of the Group of 8 industrialized nations even beforethe invasion of Georgia. We have no sympathy for Moscow’s bullying, butwe also have no desire to replay the cold war. The United States mustfind a way to constrain the Russians’ worst impulses, while preservingthe ability to work with them on arms control and other vitalinitiatives.Both candidates talk tough on terrorism, and neither has ruled outmilitary action to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But Mr. Obamahas called for a serious effort to try to wean Tehran from its nuclearambitions with more credible diplomatic overtures and toughersanctions. Mr. McCain’s willingness to joke about bombing Iran wasfrightening. The Constitution and the Rule of LawUnder Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Constitution, theBill of Rights, the justice system and the separation of powers havecome under relentless attack. Mr. Bush chose to exploit the tragedy ofSept. 11, 2001, the moment in which he looked like the president of aunified nation, to try to place himself above the law. Mr. Bush has arrogated the power to imprison men without charges andbrowbeat Congress into granting an unfettered authority to spy onAmericans. He has created untold numbers of “black” programs, includingsecret prisons and outsourced torture. The president has issuedhundreds, if not thousands, of secret orders. We fear it will takeyears of forensic research to discover how many basic rights have beenviolated.Both candidates have renounced torture and are committed to closing the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.But Mr. Obama has gone beyond that, promising to identify andcorrect Mr. Bush’s attacks on the democratic system. Mr. McCain hasbeen silent on the subject.Mr. McCain improved protections for detainees. But then he helpedthe White House push through the appalling Military Commissions Act of2006, which denied detainees the right to a hearing in a real court andput Washington in conflict with the Geneva Conventions, greatlyincreasing the risk to American troops. The next president will have the chance to appoint one or morejustices to a Supreme Court that is on the brink of being dominated bya radical right wing. Mr. Obama may appoint less liberal judges thansome of his followers might like, but Mr. McCain is certain to pickrigid ideologues. He has said he would never appoint a judge whobelieves in women’s reproductive rights.The Candidates It will be an enormous challenge just to get the nation back towhere it was before Mr. Bush, to begin to mend its image in the worldand to restore its self-confidence and its self-respect. Doing all ofthat, and leading America forward, will require strength of will,character and intellect, sober judgment and a cool, steady hand.Mr. Obama has those qualities in abundance. Watching him beingtested in the campaign has long since erased the reservations that ledus to endorse Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democraticprimaries. He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messagesof hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and socialresponsibility. Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in theprimaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle andsound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision ofthe far-right wing. His righteous fury at being driven out of the 2000primaries on a racist tide aimed at his adopted daughter has beenreplaced by a zealous embrace of those same win-at-all-costs tacticsand tacticians.He surrendered his standing as an independent thinker in his rush toembrace Mr. Bush’s misbegotten tax policies and to abandon hisleadership position on climate change and immigration reform.Mr. McCain could have seized the high ground on energy and theenvironment. Earlier in his career, he offered the first plausible billto control America’s emissions of greenhouse gases. Now his positionsare a caricature of that record: think Ms. Palin leading chants of“drill, baby, drill.”Mr. Obama has endorsed some offshore drilling, but as part of acomprehensive strategy including big investments in new, cleantechnologies. •Mr. Obama has withstood some of the toughest campaign attacks evermounted against a candidate. He’s been called un-American and accusedof hiding a secret Islamic faith. The Republicans have linked him todomestic terrorists and questioned his wife’s love of her country. Ms.Palin has also questioned millions of Americans’ patriotism, callingRepublican-leaning states “pro-America.”This politics of fear, division and character assassination helpedMr. Bush drive Mr. McCain from the 2000 Republican primaries and defeatSenator John Kerry in 2004. It has been the dominant theme of hisfailed presidency. The nation’s problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing“robo-calls” and negative ads. This country needs sensible leadership,compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership.Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.

Israel's ultra-orthodox Shas party rejected premier-designate TzipiLivni's call to form a coalition Friday, broadening the likelihood ofearly parliamentary elections that could see the right-wing Likud partytake power.

Picture: REUTERS

Livni has set a Sunday deadline to either announce a new Israelicoalition government or ask the country's president to call anelection.

Shas party spokesman Roi Lahmanovitch rejected the request of Israel's Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni to form a coalition with her Kadima party Friday, saying that the two parties disagreed on key issues. Lahmanovitch wrote in a statement that Livni did not meet the party's demands for more funds for poor Israelis and for a commitment that parts of Jerusalem will not be ceded to the Palestinians.

"Shas has asked only for two things ... real financial help for the (financially) weak in Israeli society and and protection for Jerusalem ... which is not merchandise for sale," he said, " (Shas) will not be able to join the government under these conditions."Livni said Thursday that she would call for early elections if the Shas party did not join her Kadima party in a coaliton by Sunday. Livni still has 10 more days to put together a parliamentary majority, but resorted to force in the face of pressure to choose a coalition partner. An early election could prevent Livni from becoming Israel's first female prime minister in more than 30 years. Opinion polls have indicated that the hawkish Likud party would sweep to power if new elections were held.

Livni has secured the backing of the left-of-center Labor party. Her main obstacle remains securing the support of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.The collapse of coalition talks means the Olmert will carry on as caretaker prime minister until a viable governing partnership is forged or new elections are held.If Shas sticks to its refusal, Livni will be left with two options: cobbling together a slim coalition with the help of smaller ultra-Orthodox and dovish parties or calling new elections for the spring of 2009.

OPEC on Friday decided to slash output by 1.5 million barrels a day asof next month in an attempt to stem plunging oil prices.

Picture: APSecretary General of the OPEC Abdalla Salem El-Badri

OPEC'S Friday announcement of a 1.5 million barrels a day cut in oil output as of next month reflected concerns within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that the bottom could be falling out of the market. Crude is selling for 50 percent less than this year's historic heights because the worldwide economic crisis has put a huge crimp in demand.But prices sagged, suggesting that the market was more concerned with the current global economic turmoil than crude availability. If economies in the U.S. and other leading crude consumers continue to deteriorate, industries will use less oil, making it a buyer's market.

Despite the OPEC cut, benchmark crude futures fell US$3.99 to US$63.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore. The contract overnight rose US$1.09 to settle at US$67.84.The language of an OPEC statement announcing the decision also reflected how seriously the producers' cartel viewed the erosion of its revenues, as did the unusually short deliberations leading to the decision."Oil prices have witnessed a dramatic collapse – unprecedented in speed and magnitude," said a statement from the 13-nation organization."This slowdown in demand is serving to exacerbate the situation in a market which has been oversupplied with crude for some time."

The cut announced is already sizable. But because OPEC nations continue to overproduce by about 300,000 barrels a day from the official quota of close to 29 million barrels the total amount that the 13-nation group wants to take off the market is even higher – around 1.8 million barrels a day.And OPEC officials left no doubt that they were ready to slice deeper quickly if Friday's decision does not end the price freefall.Friday's meeting was called unexpectedly in response to prices that have disintegrated since their historic high of nearly US$150 in July. And OPEC President Chakib Khelil said OPEC was ready to convene another emergency session before its next planned gathering in December in Algeria "if there are further decisions that have to be made" on slashing prices.

(CNN) — Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary who sharply criticized President Bush in his memoir last spring, told CNN Thursday he's voting for Barack Obama.

"From the very beginning I have said I am going to support the candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done and I will be voting for Barack Obama and clapping," McClellan told new CNN Host D.L. Hughley

McClellan, a onetime Bush loyalist whose scathing critique of the president sent shock waves across Washington last spring, has long hinted he was leaning toward the Illinois senator.

"It's a message that is very similar to the one that Gov. Bush ran on in 2000," McClellan said in May about Obama's campaign.

McClellan isn't the first member of Bush's inner circle to express support for Obama. In 2007, former Bush strategist Matt Dowd also said he had become disillusioned with the president and said Obama was the only candidate that appealed to him.

The full interview will air on D.L. Hugley's new show, D.L. Hughley Breaks the News, Saturday at 10 p.m. ET. Hughley is also a guest of Larry King Live Friday at 9 p.m. ET.

OSLO - Bernt Aune’s transplanted cornea has been in use for a record 123 years — since before the Eiffel Tower was built.

“This is the oldest eye in Norway — I don’t know if it’s the oldest in the world,” Aune, an 80-year-old Norwegian and former ambulance driver, told Reuters by telephone on Thursday. “But my vision’s not great any longer.”

He had a cornea transplanted into his right eye in 1958 from the body of an elderly man who was born in June 1885. The operation was carried out at Namsos Hospital, mid-Norway.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the oldest living organ in the world,” eye doctor Hasan Hasanain at Namsos hospital told the Norwegian daily Verdens Gang.

In the 1950s, doctors expected it to work for just five years, Hasanain said. Such cornea operations date back to the early 20th century and were among the first successful transplants.

“It wasn’t unusual to use corneas from elderly people who had died,” Aune said.

The oldest person who had documents to prove it was France’s Jeanne Calment, who was 122 old when she died in 1997, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

The Eiffel Tower was built from 1887 to 1889. U.S. inventor Thomas Edison patented a film camera for motion pictures in 1888.

Is the US already at war with Iran? In "America's Secret War", Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller travels to the Iraq-Iran border to investigate claims that the United States is supporting militant groups that are attacking Iran. In the rugged Qandil mountains, she meets with up with anti-Iranian guerillas who have been launching deadly raids against the Islamic Republic. A good percentage of the fighters are women, and Mariana accompanies a small group of them through what many believe has become the frontline of the US's secret war with Iran.

Scientists say that our brains reach their prime at 39, and after that,it's all downhill. Researchers from the University of California, LosAngeles, say that from 40 onwards, brain signals slow down as we losefatty coating that insulates nerve cells for fast bursting brainsignals. Is this proof that 40 really is "over the hill"?